Blessed are the cool!

     This my response to a recent blog I read entitled "Blessed are the uncool!"
If you don't want to take the time to read it, let me sum it up for you, with this quote from it:

"I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants,  and…brace yourself…painfully amateur “special music” now and then."

     I couldn't disagree more.  This sounds like the church I grew up in.  There a lot of things about growing up in that uncool church that I am grateful for.  None of which are included in the previous list.  All of those things I could have done without.  [Full disclosure:  I was a frequent participator in the painfully amateur "special music"]  

     The writer goes on to attack a very "cool" church who had a volunteer "very abruptly escort" out of a church service a family of a disabled boy who was making a distraction.  The problem with this story is that we have no idea of the exact circumstances or how it was handled.  Maybe, the volunteer did the wrong thing.  I have no idea, but this cannot be evidence for how we need to make church "uncool."

     As I already stated, I grew up in a profoundly "uncool" church.  I remember attending my first Christian rock concert as a teenager.  I was absolutely blown away that "Christian" music could be that "cool."  I remember attending my first youth conference and was amazed at how "cool" everything was.  The thought that church even could be "cool" was revolutionary for me.  

     The problem I have with the first premise of this "uncool" argument is that America is filled with "uncool" churches and very few of them are growing.  I feel like the "uncool" factor can be a huge obstacle to my generation and even more so for younger generations.  

     With that said, I do agree that we shouldn't worship at the "cool" altar, to the point that our churches no longer reflect the heart of Christ.  This is where I and the "uncool" author may agree:

But more importantly, I want to be part of an un-cool church because I want to be part of a community that shares the reputation of Jesus, and like it or not, Jesus’ favorite people in the world were not cool.

     But I have this crazy notion that we can have a "cool" church that is filled with "uncool" people.  I believe that the church should bend over backwards including "uncool" people in our communities, but I don't think that means if you are completely tone deaf that we should give you a stage and a microphone.  Could it be possible that there is another/better place for that person to serve.  Most of the time I think that the "uncool" factor in churches is due to laziness or a lack of telling people the truth.  

     I believe that we should wrestle with this tension.  I believe that the gospel deserves an engaging presentation (call it "cool" if you like.)  But at the same time I believe that the church should embrace with open arms every "cool" and "uncool" person in our community.  Most importantly I feel like what people are really looking for is "GRACE."  They are looking for a place that they feel comfortable to be themselves, and what could be "cooler"  than that?   

   

I don't want to help the poor!

     This quote has really made me think.  The problem is that I don't like the conclusions I come to when I think about it.  I know the first possibility can't be true.  There is no way that Jesus was as selfish as I am. So according to this quote I only have one other possibility.  That I really don't want to help the poor!
     Now here is where I will totally contradict myself, in actuality I really do want to love the poor and serve the needy.  I just don't like the last part "without condition."  I have all kinds of conditions to my loving the poor and serving the needy.  First, my help has to make sense to me and be on my terms.  Second, the poor and needy must show their gratitude for my help.  Third, the help must result in some tangible life change from the afore mentioned poor and needy.
     If you have read my past blogs you may have heard me talk about "Alex."  Alex is a man who occasionally stands on the side of the road with a cardboard sign begging for help because he is "homeless."  I have tried multiple times to help Alex.  I have talked with him, prayed with him, gave him food, hot coffee, and clothing.  I have offered to help him get a hot shower and anything else I could think of that would help him.  Each time I helped it met my first two qualifications but sadly not the last.  My acts of kindness made sense to me, were on my terms, and Alex was very grateful.  Unfortunately, they have not resulted in any tangible life change.
     Because of this last condition of mine not being met, I have found my heart becoming hard towards Alex.  Recently, I have noticed him standing by the road on crutches.  The more cynical side of me wondered if they were just a prop.  The other day my wife and I were riding our bikes on the bike trail when I was passed by Alex riding his bicycle with his crutches strapped to the bike.  Because of this, I felt completely justified in the fact that I was no longer reaching out to Alex.
     Jesus tells a story of two different groups of people standing before him on judgement day.  To one group he says that they will be punished because they didn't take the time to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, and care for the sick.  To another group he says that they will be rewarded because they did the exact opposite.  He concludes his story with this chilling statement: "I tell you the truth, when you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me."
     That sounds exactly like what we stated at the beginning, "loving the poor and serving the needy without condition."  I continue to wrestle with what this will look like in my life, but I refuse to become content in hiding behind my mask of comfortable American Christianity.  I determined long ago that I was going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and he doesn't seem to give me any options on this issue.  He says pretty clearly what a follower looks like.  It doesn't appear to me that my "service with conditions" is going to cut it.
     Even though I don't like what I see when I take a honest look at my self, by God's grace this isn't where I am going to stay!  

I Guess I Am a Racist!

     I have recently been fascinated by the media coverage of the death of Trayvon Martin.  First, let me say that when anyone is killed, it is a tragedy, regardless of the color of their skin.  Second, no one knows for sure what happened that night other than Trayvon, George Zimmerman and eye witnesses.
     With that said, I find it fascinating that the media will only show pictures of an innocent 12 year old boy, not a 17 year old teenager flashing gang signs.  An accurate picture doesn't seem to support their agenda.   I also find people like Jesse Jackson, appalling.  Here is a "Reverend" who is supposedly consumed with ending racism, but yet I think that he actually encourages racism.  If racism suddenly ended, no one would pay him any attention at all.
     Here is his recent quote concerning the Trayvon Martin case, "Targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business."  Actually, I think that racism is big business in America.  Sadly, people are killed everyday.  Blacks kill blacks.  Whites kill whites.  Whites kill blacks, and every other possible combination.  But we only hear press if a white kills a black.  What has all the press concerning the Trayvon Martin case done to us?  Has it made us more racist or less racist?
     "Racist" tends to be the easiest and quickest label to throw on someone you disagree with.  I recently read a chain email that accused anyone who disliked the president of being a racist.  Yet I found the email "racist" in itself.  It said that at least Barack Obama "wasn't on welfare or selling drugs in front of a liquor store."  Why would the email assume that because he was a black man at least he wasn't a welfare recipient  or a drug dealer.
     Martin Luther King said that he dreamed of the day when someone "would be judged by the content of his character not the color of his skin."  That is why I disagree with our president, because of the content of his character, not the color of his skin.  I have seen him support so many things that God hates such as abortion and homosexuality.  I have seen him lie and deceive the American people, that is what I judge him upon: the content of his character.  If that makes me a "Racist," I guess we have redefined the word.
     The dictionary defines the word "Racist" as "someone who believes that a certain race is superior to any and all others."  God's word clearly tells us that there is no room in the kingdom of God for someone like that.  Martin Luther King was just echoing the words of Paul when he said, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, man or woman.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus!"  Paul says that through Christ I can look at you and not see the color of your skin.  Through Christ I can look at you and see our similarities not our differences.
     I am so proud of the diverse church that I attend and would love to see it become even more diverse.  I don't want to be a part of an all white church or an all black church or an all fill-in-the-blank church, because I don't think that it reflects the kingdom of God.  I know for a fact that heaven will not be segregated.  Revelation 5:9 says "Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."  Heaven will be the most diverse place ever created.  We had better start learning how to love each other regardless of skin color if we are going to be together for eternity.
    Jesus is the only answer to racism.  Our world offers no solutions.  In fact, I believe it actually encourages racism.